Much discussion has been had about what the office market of the future will be like, as we move out of COVID restrictions.  There appears to be universal agreement in the property sector that the use of office space will change forever, with a greater emphasis on flexible working meaning companies require less floor space.

Over the last 12 months there was an expectation that a lot of office space would come to the market, for which there would be little demand. While some offices may still be standing vacant, or seldom used, it will really only be when break options or lease expiries come up that businesses focus on their office space requirements.

What has been encouraging however in the last couple of months, has been the take up of office space in Chippenham. This has been mainly at the lower end of the size scale, but nevertheless shows that the office market is active and improving.

Huw Thomas Commercial has recently let a single room office for three people within Station Hill House in the centre of Chippenham, to expanding business Dazzle Technologies who started from home during Lockdown.

Also in the town centre, Huw Thomas Commercial has let the first floor of 4 Avon Reach, Monkton Hill to Axiah Ltd who have relocated from Westbury into the 928 sq ft suite.

Outside of the town centre, a ground floor office suite at Cavalier Court on Bumpers Farm has been let to national domiciliary care agency Alina Homecare for a new branch in the area.

To the south of the town at Methuen South, the ground floor of Unit B2, which provides over 2,000 sq ft of space, has just been let to Backhouse Housing who have expanded and relocated from Box.

Huw Thomas comments “There was a thought in the property industry that we would see a lot of vacant office space, with developers looking to convert much of it to residential use. The last few months have however proven that there definitely is a market for office space for ongoing office use. It’s good to see people back in the office environment.”